Despite the coverage of his on-field performance, Adrian Peterson of the Minnesota Vikings may still be one of the best-kept secrets in Minnesota sports in one area: pure decency.

Blake Cognata of Fairport, NY (near Rochester) is a very ill high school senior. The cancer he thought he had licked has spread through the rest of his body. He’s in the hospital and it doesn’t look good.

Peterson is Cognata’s favorite player, and one of his friends took to Twitter with the hashtag #APCallBlake, to try to get word to Peterson about young Blake.

“It was on his heart and he just felt he had to do it,” Chris Brown, Peterson’s assistant, said in an interview with a local newspaper. “If a conversation can bring a little bit of joy, it’s the least Adrian can do.”

Thank you @adrianpeterson. You are a truly a great man, and everyone in my community appreciates what you did. And I know Blake did as well

About the blogger

Bob Collins has been with Minnesota Public Radio since 1992, emigrating to Minnesota from Massachusetts. He was senior editor of news in the ’90s, ran MPR’s political unit, created the MPR News regional website, invented the popular Select A Candidate, started the two most popular blogs in the history of MPR and every day laments that his Minnesota Fantasy Legislature project never caught on.

NewsCut is a blog featuring observations about the news. It provides a forum for an online discussion and debate about events that might not typically make the front page. NewsCut posts are not news stories but reflections , observations, and debate.